Medical Marijuana Push

Tallahassee, FL - Voters in November 2014 could get the chance to legalize medical marijuana. A petition drive is being funded by one of the richest lawyers in the state. The fight is personal for the man behind it.

Marijuana has never been easy for elected officials. Listen closely to this 1978 voice vote in the state House that would have decriminalized pot use.Some members yell, “Ya,” the leader asks, “poll’s ‘no’,” Other members yell, “No.”

The vote was close until members how to put their name next to their vote, it failed three to one. This past legislative session, Kathy Jordan, who says marijuana alleviates her ALS symptoms, wheeled the halls of the capitol pushing a bill to legalize medical marijuana. It didn't even get a hearing despite polls showing 70 percent are in favor. “They’re very polite, but they can politely say no too,” says Robert Jordan, Kathy’s Husband.

Last month, a group calling itself People United for Medical Marijuana filed paperwork with the Secretary of State’s office to let voters decide the medical Marijuana question.

The group needs a million signatures by February. But what gives this group a leg up is this man, John Morgan. He’s one of the richest trial lawyers in Florida. On Thursday he told the Capital Tiger Bay Club that he’s pushing the amendment because politicians won’t. “These politicians are here for themselves, and that’s why I’m here. Because they are not going to do the job for you,” says John Morgan, from the People United for Medical Marijuana.

Morgan expects to spend 3 million to gather signatures and another ten to pass the measure. To Morgan, the fight is personal. Marijuana helped ease his dying fathers pain. “It’s really for the terminally ill, the critically ill, the chronically ill. It’s not for somebody who’s got… is having a bad hair day,” says Morgan

Only Medical doctors could prescribe medical marijuana is the amendment passes.

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